


the greatest arsenal

by Narial



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine Universe, Tell a story save a life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narial/pseuds/Narial
Summary: One stolen moment into twelve, and the pages of his sketchbook are almost full.  He can hear the paper rustling at night, like someone else has activated his jutsu.  Maybe these are what others call dreams.
Relationships: Nara Shikako & Sai
Comments: 14
Kudos: 181
Collections: Dreaming of Sunshine Exchange 2020 C (Winter Round!), Heliocentrism — a Dreaming of Sunshine recursive collection





	the greatest arsenal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RinRynRen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinRynRen/gifts).



Sai slows and leaps down from tree walking as the remote training ground comes into view. Shikako is sitting cross-legged under a tree at the edge of the clearing, tucking away a notebook. She looks up at him as he nears her and smiles, stretching out a hand. By the time it reaches him, she’s holding a stack of small paperbacks. He reaches into his own pack and removes a stack of his own. Exchange complete, he settles down beside her. The overt reason for their meeting is over, but he still has the rest of the hour to maintain visible social connections. 

It’s quiet, but not uncomfortable. There’s anticipation in the air, curling warm like the sunbeams through the leaves. 

“Do you ever just want to go away?” Shikako’s not looking at him, plucking at a wildflower by her sandal. 

Sai considers, but, “It’s unlikely there is anywhere I could go where he would not find me eventually.”

“What about outside the Elemental Nations? Outside the world?” She looks up, then closes her eyes. “What if it’s not anywhere you’re going, but any _when_?”

Sai settles in. He has become accustomed to story time.

“Once upon a time there was a boy with a ship that could take him anywhere, anywhen, as long as he took care not to break time, not to interfere with fate. He ran away from the destruction of his people and set off alone into the void.”

“If his ship were that powerful, couldn’t he go wherever he pleased? Couldn’t he have saved his people?”

“Ah, but that would have broken time and so was taboo.” She shrugs, “Also, his ship‘s navigation system was damaged as he was leaving - he couldn’t quite control where he would land.”

She picks up a stick and scratches a rectangle in the soil.

“He couldn’t quite go where he meant to, but somehow he usually ended up near where he needed to be.”

“Why did he need to be there?”

Shikako pauses, “Actually, I’m not sure. It’s not like he was assigned these missions or anything, he just happened to encounter people who needed him. Since he could help, it just made sense that he would try.”

“Like with the bounty hunter? Like with Lady Kayo?”

She smiles, “Exactly!” 

“So he was like you and Naruto, colorful,” he mutters. That sounds exhausting. Shikako lets that go and continues scratching another rectangle offset from the first. 

“It didn’t always work out.” She looks a little sad. These fictional people are important to her, if only for this moment. Another thing Sai wants to understand. “He couldn’t save everyone, and sometimes even ended up destroying what he was trying to save. There were many who were terrified of him and many more that called him a savior, but he kept trying.”

She connects the corresponding corners of the two rectangles with parallel lines. Sai looks at the finished box. 

“Is this related?”

Shikako nods, adding a small ball in the center of one short side with lines radiating away. She completes it with the outline of a door and some flourished scribbles. “It’s the ship.”

Sai looks at it dubiously. It seems too small and not aerodynamic enough to float or fly.

Shikako leans in with sparkling eyes as if she’s going to share a joke, but says in a grave whisper, “It’s bigger on the inside.” She leans back with a satisfied smirk. 

Sai is aware he isn’t well versed in jokes. A smile is most likely to be the appropriate response. He tries it out. Even if he is wrong, Shikako is unlikely to respond negatively, and may even provide correction.

The conversation moves on and the drawing gets scuffed out. Later, Sai finds himself copying it into a corner of his notebook. One of many doodles from stories he’s storing up. They may never become manga, but he feels the pleasure of hoarding them all the same. They seem to slot into a place he didn’t realize was empty. A bookcase in his soul. More metaphors...well, he _has_ been hanging around Shikako.

**Author's Note:**

> "You want weapons? We're in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself!" - Dr. Who (Russell T. Davies)


End file.
